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I’m reading through Leviticus right now. This morning I read chapter ten about Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, of the priestly line, and how they botched up the sacrifices they were making on behalf of the people and God sent a fire that consumed them and they died. My ESV version calls the sacrificial fire they offered “unauthorized.” A footnote adds more information: “Apparently the instructions for offering incense were not properly followed, perhaps by using coals from elsewhere than the altar. Some interpreters suggest that the two men were also drunk,” which is indicated as a possibility by the language in verse nine of the same chapter.

We are tempted in our day to read these verses and other instances like them recorded in both Old and New Testaments and question how a loving God could do such a thing. We love to fall back to the “loving God” thing and forget just who we are and just who God actually is. God, from the beginning said he was perfectly holy. Said that he desired a relationship with those of us who since Eve’s conversation with the serpent in the Eden Garden have not been holy. He carefully stipulated our part of being able to keep in relationship with Him. How he should be approached and worshipped. It was all clear.

But the murkiness of human carelessness convoluted the approaching Him process and resulted in Aaron’s sons dying. Even though Aaron was no doubt distraught and angry, Moses reminds him that the Lord has said, “I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.” Aaron knew better than to offer a protest.

“ A lot of the time sin doesn’t seem that important to us and it easily distracts us from true worship when we gather together and even more often when we are alone and out of sight of others. ”



Human nature hasn’t gotten any better since then.
A lot of the time sin doesn’t seem that important to us and it easily distracts us from true worship when we gather together and even more often when we are alone and out of sight of others. Our love for Jesus falls short. Our minds can wander after a mere quick glance into some dark and evil chasm. Those chasms are everywhere. As I heard recently in a sermon, our culture, the whole system of humanity, in fact, has been organized without any thought for God. 

Of course, this is evidenced by the things we do, where we spend our money. One of the top profit-making industries today is the pornographic industry, which actually grew through the pandemic with no set-backs, unlike other businesses. According to Yahoo Finance, “Porn could have a bigger economic influence on the U.S. than Netflix.” It makes more money than Major League Baseball, the NFL, and the NBA combined. Porn sites get more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. In fact, Family Safe Media reports that “the pornography industry generates $12 billion dollars in annual revenue - larger than the combined annual revenues of ABC, NBC, and CBS. Of that, the Internet pornography industry generates $2.5 billion dollars in annual revenue. Twelve percent of all internet content is pornographic.

So we find ourselves in the midst of evil, darkness all around us and yet as Matthew 4:16 says, “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.” We, as believers, have seen that “great light” and know it to be “Jesus.” He has shed light upon us in order to expose our sin and has paid the ultimate price on the cross so that we might live in the light—in Him. We can identify with the Israelites, Aaron and his sons, fleeing the slavery of Egypt and tasting of the glory of God. Recognizing the sheer beauty of it and yet being too lazy and disinterested to live accordingly every moment. More often, learning the hard way that sin is serious.

“ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, but you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. ”



Over and over again, those in the early church were reminded to “flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, but you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). Just as Aaron’s sons were instructed to obey. We are to radiate the glory of God. Sin prohibits us from accomplishing that. We forget that except for Jesus, we would be sentenced to death.

We dabble anyway, don’t we? Pornography is only one way but it is done in secret. In dark places. So those entrapped think they won’t get caught. They believe it won’t bring harm to them. The story of the young man in the last blog (https://www.livingletters.life/blog/post/a-young-mans-story-from-slavery-to-pornography-to-freedom-in-jesus-christ) thought that. But he learned differently. The warning needs to be blasted to the present-day Church because too many professing Christians are on this slippery slope. The latest statistics are telling.

“ Sixty-eight percent of churchgoing men and more than 50 percent of pastors view porn on a regular basis. ”

 

In April  2016, the Barna Group released their in depth research delving into the issue of pornography and the effects it is having within the Christian community; (https://www.barna.com/research/porn-in-the-digital-age-new-research-reveals-10-trends/, The Porn Phenomenon - Barna Group ). Here are just a few of the results from that study.

  • Fifty-seven percent of pastors and 64 percent of youth pastors admit they have struggled with porn, either currently or in the past.
  • Sixty-eight percent of churchgoing men and more than 50 percent of pastors view porn on a regular basis. Of young Christian adults 18-24 years old, 76 percent actively search for porn.
  • 70 percent of Christian youth pastors report that they have had at least one teen come to them for help in dealing with pornography in the past 12 months.
  • Fifty-nine percent of pastors said married men seek their help for porn use.
  • Thirty-percent of women ages 25 and under search for porn at least once per month.
  • Only 13 percent of self-identified Christian women say they never watch porn — 87 percent of Christian women have watched porn.
  • Eleven is the average age that a child is first exposed to porn, and 94 percent of children will see porn by the age of 14.
  • Fifty-six percent of American divorces involve one party having an “obsessive interest” in pornographic websites.
  • Fifty-seven percent of pastors say porn addiction is the most damaging issue in their congregation. And 69 percent say porn has adversely impacted the church.
  • Only seven percent of pastors say their church has a program to help people struggling with pornography.

Despite these alarming statistics, the even more alarming statistics are those that point to the almost never discussed issue that pornography has become in the Christian community. Among those pastors and youth pastors who admit current or past use of pornography, only one percent recommend telling their congregations. However, in the Barna study, 3000 Christians were asked what should happen if a pastor was caught using porn. Over 40 percent stated that the pastor should be fired or asked to resign. Just eight percent of pastors asked, agreed with that protocol (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minority-report/202001/pastors-and-porn).

Among the younger generation, viewing pornography has become acceptable, even encouraged. According to the Barna research, 89 percent of teens, and 95 percent of young adults say they are neutral as to the rightness or wrongness of pornography. “One in 20 young adults and one in ten teens say their friends think viewing pornography is a bad thing.” The views promulgated by the culture are proving once again as in so many other matters, to numb and desensitize our young people.

“ 87 percent of Christian women have watched porn. ”



Michael Chancellor talks of the effects of pornography in the church, in a January 2021 article for Baptist News (
https://baptistnews.com/article/the-ongoing-epidemic-of-pornography-in-the-church/#.YQGAaY5KiM8). Calling it an ongoing epidemic and making his observations regarding the effects of pornography from the years he spent working within the prison system, he lists four long-term outcomes for men regularly viewing pornography: 1. Disrespect for all women, valuing them only in their sexual potential to bring a man pleasure. 2. Sex becomes reduced to a need “like sleep, eating, exercise and drinking enough water.” 3. Sexual activity becomes devoid of intimacy and therefore lacks satisfaction—“here today, gone tomorrow.” 4. “Men who grew up on porn had no idea of what sex was about. No idea. Everything they thought they knew was wrong.”

Men are not the only ones viewing pornography as indicated in the statistics above. In the March 3, 2018 issue of World Magazine, a young Christian woman admits her struggles that began at age 13, while she was doing research online for a school project. She describes her experience of being overlooked by the church—as though no woman would become a victim to this. This left her feeling very much alone and not wanting to ask for help. As a freshman in a Christian college, the college tracked her online activity and called her to the dean’s office. But the reprimand surprised her. She was accused of giving her password to a “brother in Christ.” This was the assumption the college leaders had automatically come to. The young woman was devastated. “If women don’t have this problem,” she wondered, “then what in the world is wrong with me? I felt like such a freak.”

Chancellor says that the lessons learned from a pornographic addiction are that: “Sex is my most important need. I cannot do without sex. I cannot substitute that desire. I must have that need met.” While Christians label this addictive behavior as sexual depravity or sexual immorality, borrowing from biblical terminology, the Bible more clearly defines it and all forms of immorality and depravity, as heart issues. This applies not merely to unbelievers but to professing Christians. We should always be aware that the heart is deceitful and that the Lord sees exactly what is in our hearts. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, …” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).

“ The views promulgated by the culture are proving once again as in so many other matters, to numb and desensitize our young people. ”

 

Yet, we are not without hope. The One who saves us desires to bring us to repentance, to seek Him wholeheartedly, to forsake our evil idols, to daily abide with Him, and to immerse ourselves in His word. I love how the young man in my previous blog describes it. “I have come to realize that abiding in the freedom that is mine through Jesus, is directly correlated to how much time I spend in the Word of God, practice daily obedience to it, and remain part of a local body of Christ, which allows me to hear the Word preached and to be accountable to my fellow believers.” (https://www.livingletters.life/blog/post/a-young-mans-story-from-slavery-to-pornography-to-freedom-in-jesus-christ )

What about the rest of the church? Those of us who may not have this particular idol but find ourselves attracted to other idols just the same. How often are we, like Aaron’s sons, careless in our behavior—bringing dishonor to the name of Jesus and marring the glory of God that should mark us as His people. Do we realize we are vessels of the Holy Spirit or do our thoughts and actions silence His voice within us? 

“ Yet, we are not without hope. The One who saves us desires to bring us to repentance, to seek Him wholeheartedly, to forsake our evil idols, to daily abide with Him, and to immerse ourselves in His word. ”

 

Are we confessing our own shortcomings to one another? Do we hear the sins of one another with humility and love or is our first reaction to condemn and gossip? Are we humbly encouraging one another to stay the course? To remember who we are in Christ? To examine our own hearts looking for every instance of what might draw our attention away from Christ? 

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:23-25). And the day is indeed drawing nearer.

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